1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk-shaped antenna frequently used in systems requiring many phased-array devices to form multiple beams, and more particularly, to an antenna which allows a resonant frequency of the antenna to be selected according to the size of a disk and feed position and thus, can be simply used according to a frequency characteristic.
2. Description of the Related Art
To provide mobile communication service, the demand for an antenna having a wideband or multi-band frequency characteristic with regards to frequency, and capable of forming multiple beams with regards to service is increasing.
To meet this demand, development of a reflector antenna employing a phased-array device as a feeder is ongoing. Each individual device used as a phased-array device should have electrically excellent characteristics.
To this end, a radiator is manufactured in a disk form, and an antenna is configured to have a support structure for the disk radiator. The disk support structure has the form of a pipe having a thin wall structure formed of a dielectric having a low loss tangent (tan δ), and thus, is lightweight.
Also, to simplify manufacturing, the disk support structure is separately manufactured according to the size and position of the disk radiator. In conventional art, the disk support structure is referred to as an upright (or pipe) socket.
An antenna consists of at least one disk radiator and at least two sockets. A first socket is disposed at the center of and above a ground plane, a disk radiator is disposed above the first socket, and a second socket is disposed above the disk radiator. The respective sockets may have the same or different diameters, and all the components are assembled using an adhesive.
To manufacture a large number of individual devices, such a method requires a lot of manual work, and may have problems of durability according to characteristics of the adhesive. Individual devices to be used in a system including many phased-array devices should be simply manufactured to have minimal error and the same characteristics despite manufacturing the devices several times.
To this end, manual work should be avoided as much as possible. To solve this problem, a disk-shaped antenna needs to be manufactured only by assembly without an adhesive. This increases the probability that many manufactured feeding devices will have the same characteristics. Also, when a frequency varies or a wideband or multi-band frequency is required, a disk-shaped antenna can be easily completed by manufacturing only a disk radiator according to a frequency band.